Trump Subpoenaed to Testify on His Involvement in US Capitol Riots

By Staff, Agencies

US lawmakers probing the 2021 attack on the US Capitol voted Thursday to subpoena former president Donald Trump to testify on his involvement in the violence.

"This committee will demand a full accounting to every American person of the events of January 6," said Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the investigating House Committee.

"So, it is our obligation to seek Donald Trump's testimony."

Lawmakers investigating Trump's involvement in last year's US Capitol insurrection offered fresh evidence that the defeated president planned to declare victory in the 2020 election - regardless of the outcome.

Trump had a "premeditated plan" formulated months before the vote to claim he won on election night, whatever the vote tally showed, panel member Zoe Lofgren told the hearing.

"The evidence shows that his false victory speech was planned well in advance, before any votes had been counted," Lofgren said, citing evidence gathered by the committee, including testimony from Trump's one-time campaign manager.

Individual panelists publicly suggested that Attorney General Merrick Garland should charge Trump over the Capitol attack. The House of Representatives panel already unveiled reams of evidence on the former president's involvement in a labyrinthine series of connected schemes to overturn the 2020 election.

The panel also presented evidence developed from nearly one million pages of documents surrendered by the Secret Service, as lawmakers seek to understand why certain agents' text messages from the eve of the insurrection and the day itself went missing. The records confirm evidence from earlier hearings that Trump riled up his supporters despite being repeatedly warned of mounting violence on January 6, said panel member Adam Schiff.